Spring is here, and with it comes one of the most-loathed tasks of the year: Spring Cleaning. But before you give up about the hopeless mess that is your life, remember- it could be worse. You could be a Hoarder.

The premise of the show is that each time, a hoarder has accepted that the way they live is not normal, and a therapist and cleanup crew are brought in to help them begin to solve the problem. The therapist is usually able to explain to the hoarder that they are forming unhealthy emotional attachments to objects, but that throwing things away does not mean that they are throwing their memories away. Our first hoarder, Gail, is especially prone to being a pack rat after she lost many of her possessions in a fire in 1985. She jealously guards the few possessions she retained, no matter how useless.

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Dick, a retired veterinarian, sees himself as more of a collector than a hoarder, but he too has become too emotionally attached to his objects to get rid of a single one. He can no longer walk through his home.

However, some hoarders' behavior is more destructive than others, and Bob falls on the extreme upper end of this spectrum. After discovering bedbugs in their home, Bob and his wife are sleeping in a tent in their yard rather than cleaning the house.

Some of my friends refuse to watch Hoarders because they say it is too depressing, but I find it uplifting that no matter how broke, messy, and directionless I am, at least I can see the floor of my apartment in some spots, and I know that I would notice immediately if I was joined by any insect or rodent roommates. Sadly, these Hoarders can't say the same. Here's hoping the show helped them clean up their lives a little bit.